Steve Chibnall

British filmmakers were among the pioneers of motion pictures, and British cinema has participated in all the great historical transitions of the medium, from black and white to colour, from talkies to sound, and from flat screen to 3-D and Imax. Many British performers, artistes and directors, after success in their home country, have been lured to Hollywood, including such giants as Charlie Chaplin, Stan Laurel and Alfred Hitchcock. Today, cinema in Britain remains vibrant, turning out films that appeal to a wide variety of audiences, and initiating and sustaining such popular and lucrative series as the James Bond, Harry Potter and Bridget Jones franchises. British studios and technicians are regularly first choice for the production of Hollywood blockbusters. Historical Dictionary of British Cinema contains a chronology, an introduction, appendices, and an extensive bibliography. The dictionary section contains cross-referenced entries on significant actors, producers, directors and crafts people, leading organizations and studios, important genres like comedy and horror, and for memorable films. This book is an excellent resource for students, researchers, and anyone wanting to know more about British cinema.

British cinema has been around from the very birth of motion pictures, from black-and-white to color, from talkies to sound, and now 3D, it has been making a major contribution to world cinema. Many of its actors and directors have stayed at home but others ventured abroad, like Charlie Chaplin and Alfred Hitchcock. Today it is still going strong, the only real competition to Hollywood, turning out films which appeal not only to Brits, just think of Bridget Jones, while busily adding to franchises like James Bond and Harry Potter. So this Historical Dictionary of British Cinema has a lot of ground to cover. This it does with over 300 dictionary entries informing us about significant actors, producers and directors, outstanding films and serials, organizations and studios, different films genres from comedy to horror, and memorable films, among other things. Two appendixes provide lists of award-winners. Meanwhile, the chronology covers over a century of history. These parts provide the details, countless details, while the introduction offers the big story. And the extensive bibliography points toward other sources of information.

First published on the fiftieth anniversary of his directorial debut, this book was the first to examine the work of a man once hailed as the finest film-maker to emerge from the British studio system after the Second World War. Before being recruited by Hollywood, J. Lee Thompson made a string of classic films including: Yield to the Night (1956), Ice Cold in Alex (1958), Tiger Bay (1959), North West Frontier (1959) and The Guns of Navarone (1961). He worked in the Hollywood industry into his late eighties, making nearly thirty films as a director and producer between 1960 and 1990. He remains best known, however, for his first: the immortal thriller Cape Fear (1962).Drawing on extensive interview material, Steve Chibnall traces Lee Thompson's career in British cinema, and offers an analysis of his films which reveals remarkable, and previously unacknowledged, continuities of style and theme.This is a book for anyone interested in the history of British cinema, and particularly those who enjoy the best of 1950s and 1960s film.